Laxman Aelay

Laxman Aelay was born in 1965 in Nalgonda district and lives in Hyderabad. His subject is the people of his ancestral village, Kadirenigudem, in Telangana. He took a commerce degree before a BA in painting at the JNTU College of Fine Arts, and began as a signboard painter, then a book designer and illustrator well known in Telugu literary circles. He is best known for figures in black, white and grey against strongly coloured grounds; the Song of the Village series set realistic, coloured figures against textured backgrounds, with close attention to dress, jewellery and flowers. His first solo show was at the ICCR Art Gallery, Hyderabad, in 1999. He received an award from the Hyderabad Art Society in 1995, represented India at a TAANA exposition in Chicago, and in 2014 designed the emblem of the new state of Telangana.